North Korean efforts to upgrade and
expand a long-range missile base come as no surprise to U.S.
intelligence officials, who have long been wary of promises by Pyongyang
to denuclearize.

New satellite imagery shows what appears to be improvements to the
Yeongjeo-dong missile base, a facility located in North Korea’s
mountainous interior, as well as work on a new facility, Hoejung-ri, 11
kilometers (seven miles) away.

"Our analytical line has not changed” a U.S. intelligence official told
VOA, when asked about the images. “North Korea has a big job to do.
Until it has fully panned out and they have done their part, we have to
be skeptical”

The images, obtained by CNN, indicate North Korea began building a
large, underground facility in 2017 and that construction was still
ongoing as of August of this year.

Researchers at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, who
analyzed the satellite imagery, said this is the first time the
Hoejung-ri site has been publicly identified, describing the work being
done there as “significant.”

The researchers said given the work that has been done and the site’s
location, the bases could be in line to receive North Korea’s newest
long-range missiles, some of which are capable of carrying nuclear
warheads and of reaching the United States.

Since their historic meeting in Singapore this past June, U.S. President
Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed hope that he and Kim can come to
an agreement to denuclearize North Korea.

Trump also has repeatedly expressed a fondness for the North Korean
leader, both on Twitter and in private.

Following the recent G-20 meeting in Argentina, South Korean Moon Jae-in
told reporters that Trump has “very favorable” views toward Kim and that
he “likes him."

“[Trump] asked me to tell Chairman Kim that he wants to implement the
rest of their agreement together and he will fulfill Chairman Kim's
wishes," Moon added.

But despite the meetings and ongoing talks, many in Washington remain
skeptical of the North Korea’s seriousness.

Trump and other administration officials have said sanctions against
North Korea should remain in place until a deal is finalized.

Top U.S. intelligence officials have been even more wary.

"We're
certainly in a better place than we were in 2017 because of the dialogue
we've established between our two leaders, the president and Kim Jong
Un," CIA Director Gina Haspel told an audience at the University of
Louisville this past September, but noted getting a deal done would be a
difficult sell.

"The regime has spent decades building their nuclear weapons program,"
she said. "The North Koreans view their capability as leverage and I
don't think that they want to give it up easily."

U.S. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats has likewise questioned
Pyongyang’s commitment to denuclearize.

“I put commitment in parentheses,” he told an intelligence and security
conference this past September.

"Absent mechanisms for the on-the-ground verification by inspectors, we
cannot confirm that North Korea has taken any other denuclearization
steps at this time,” he said.